Health Sciences Report (2002)

UNIVERSITY OF UTAH HEALTH SCIENCES REPORT Health Sciences Center Helps _ Utah Pr< in » r Bit PWilSMl irism iJ f fcarai^," iigfe W S U M M E Hot breezes carried the scent of honeysuckle; sunshades slumped against car windshields in the lots behind the health sciences center when I began working on this issue's cover story. Runners traversed the Bonneville Shoreline Trail, where, just a handful of months ago, deer cautiously made their way down through the snow. When temperatures flirted with triple- digits, it was hard to remember just how cold the winter landscape had felt on my skin: blowing wind, chapped lips- and the chill of fear. Far from the buildings of downtown Salt Lake City, draped with banners supersized to match the Olympic spirit; behind the rise of the flame at Rice- Eccles Stadium had been the security tents. Small armies of guards with guns slung around their waists and over their shoulders swept the undersides of cars and trucks entering the health sciences center. Ten- foot electrified barbed- wire fences surrounded the Athletes Village. Guards were stationed every 25 feet, their black and yellow parkas ubiquitous. Cement barricades emblazoned with red and yellow slashes defined the boundaries of our lives. Then, literally within hours, they were gone with the Games, and with them, our anxiety. Finally, we could count medals, not worries, and stash the " what if" disaster scenarios rehearsed for months in the back of our memories. Until July, when new warnings shot through the nation's independence celebrations. We were on alert once again. News magazines diagnosed an epidemic of anxiety. When I interviewed David Tomb about the psychiatric repercussions to bioterrorism, the conversation turned to mass hysteria and the role of memory. " It's one of the most fallible mechanisms we have," said the psychiatrist. " There's very little we remember accurately, even the most important things that have happened to us." Yet, as he gazed out his office window, feet propped up on his desk, he wondered aloud: " Is there anything more us than our memories? Your life is your memory. You are obligated, as a human being, to believe your memory." As I walk out to my car at summer's end, I pass radiology suites where patients, conscious and unconscious, undergo tests; past the ER where gurneys hold bodies battered by accidents and disease. We don't need 9/ 11 to remind us just how faint the lifelines etched deep into our palms really are. Perhaps that's why I've noticed a door in a back hallway of the hospital. The sign outside reads: " Emergency Preparedness Supplies." It's always closed. But inside I imagine row after row of shelves, stacked with boxes three, four deep, like memories: images of comfort, of reassurance, of that uniquely human quality of hope enabling us to believe like Caryn Summers that we, too, can meet the challenge. " I'm prepared in my professional life and my personal life," the clinical nurse coordinator for the emergency department told me. " I'm prepared in my heart." w\ JMiljll^ U Susan Sample 2 0 0 2 Published by the Office of Public Affairs, University of Utah Health Sciences Center, 50 North Medical Drive, Salt Lake City, Utah 84132. Telephone [phone]. Articles may be reprinted with permission. University of Utah Health Sciences School of Medicine College of Pharmacy College of Nursing College of Health University Hospitals & Clinics University of Utah Medical Group Eccles Institute of Human Genetics Huntsman Cancer Institute John A. Moran Eye Center Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library Editor: Susan Sample Editorial Consultant: Anne Brillinger Contributing Writers: Mary Chachas, Phil Sahm Photographers: Brad Nelson and Steve Leitch, Medical Graphics and Photography Visit the University of Utah Health Sciences Center Web site at: uuhsc. utah. edu. Cover: Suited up in their personal protective gear are members of University Hospital's Emergency Department: from left, Caryn Summers, R. N., B. S. N.; Stan Renshaw, E. M. T.; Seari Nordgran, R. N.; and Deborah Kim, A. P. R. N., M. S. N. Photo by Brad Nelson. HEALTH SCIENCES REPORT F E A T U R E S Learning to Tell Time 12 Lynn Jorde, Ph. D., studies genetic mutations to learn when and how modern humans originated. Scenario for Security 16 While others are just beginning, the University of Utah already has revised scripts for bioterrorism preparedness that draw on all areas of the health sciences center. Are Americans Really Living in Fear and Trembling? 20 The psychiatric repercussions of 9/ 11 aren't as surprising, or as new, as we're being led to believe. Surveillance Systems Give First Alert 23 Hosting the 2002 Winter Olympics gave the University an opportunity to develop and test several electronic disease surveillance systems. Nursing's a Profession with Potential 26 Completing her first year as dean, Maureen Keefe, R. N., Ph. D., reflects on the future of the College of Nursing, as well as her own professional past. Out of Africa 28 Ten medical students who volunteered in Ghana last summer returned with lessons about life and medicine. D E P A R T M E N T S Headlines 2 People 10 In Memoriam 11 Research in Brief 32 Gift of Health 34 Contributions fund College of Health scholarships, renovation at the College of Nursing and the Moran Eye Center's Campaign for Vision. Opinion 37 A School of Medicine faculty member who serves on the Indian Health Service Research IRB discusses the ethical concerns of conducting research in different cultures. HEALTH SCIENCES REPORT UNIVERSITY OF UTAH Vol. 26, No. 2